CLARE BODEL: Okay. We'll get started with our first press conference of the DP World Tour Play-Offs.
Jon, welcome to the Abu Dhabi Aldar Championship, your first time playing this event. You arrived yesterday. Just wonder what you make of everything here at Yas island, if you had a chance to look at the course.
JON RAHM: First time in Abu Dhabi overall. I didn't really have much time for yesterday after the long travel day. It's a bit of staying up right, staying outside and try to learn the golf course for the first time.
Only saw the front nine. It's in about as good of shape as you can expect a golf course to be. That was absolutely fantastic. Not a blade of grass out of place. Firm, but reactive in a consistent way. It was truly enjoyable.
But besides the hotel and the golf course, I haven't seen much. Obviously I'm aware that the F1 track is right there, Ferrari World is right here. I just haven't been able to go out and explore. Tomorrow after the Pro-Am when I have a free afternoon, maybe I get to do a little bit of that. But yesterday was not the day.
CLARE BODEL: Fair enough. You have all week for that.
Q. The last time we saw you was at Wentworth. Is it fair to say your head was probably in a different place that week than the golf course?
JON RAHM: That would be fairly accurate.
Q. Because of the impending birth?
JON RAHM: Yeah, at that point, not to disclose too much, we were actually quite concerned she was going to have an earlier delivery, and that was occupying a bit of my mind. I had been lucky to be at home for all three of the births and I didn't want to miss what was possibly our last childbirth, amongst other things, that was one of them.
Q. And just looking at this week, I see you're the man on the bubble, 51st place on the list. Can you remember the last time you came to an event with more than just the thoughts of winning the tournament? You also have to have at least a good week to ensure that you play next week. When was the last time that was on your mind at the same time?
JON RAHM: I don't know if it's ever been. Yeah.
Q. Is it this time?
JON RAHM: Yes and no. Yes and no. The good thing about this week is that we are all guaranteed points, right. So I know I need to play well but I don't think I need a stellar effort to make it to next week, right.
I would say if I just play solid, I know the way that I can play golf, I should play next week, especially given the fact that there's a few players that have chosen not to come to play these two weeks, right.
I think knowing that, the odds are a little bit higher in that sense. But yeah, it's an unusual thought to have. It's a little bit added to just the tournament itself.
Q. One other thing about the course. You said your first impression is very favorable. Wonder if you asked Tyrrell about the course before.
JON RAHM: Why Tyrrell?
Q. His impressions vary greatly. First he wanted to blow the place up, and then he won. Tyrrell probably would have given you some confused reactions.
JON RAHM: I spend a great amount of time with Tyrrell now, and I don't know how often he's given me a positive feedback from a golf course.
So the only time I ever remember was Valderrama. All year I kept thinking: I can't wait to hear how his practice round goes because how tricky the golf course is and knowing him, I thought he was going to hate it, and he absolutely loved it.
You can't get too caught up on what he may say at first because I think it's strictly dependent also on how he hits it that day.
But the one thing everybody has told me coming to this golf course is that it's always in great shape and there's a lot of movement to the greens. That's main two things that I had. Overall it's very positive, and Tyrrell was the same. He said it's in perfect shape. It's a good golf course, and there's going to be some unusual visuals in the greens and shots just because of how much undulation there is but overall it's good. He was very positive.
Q. First time we've had a chance to speak to you since you moved on from LIV. Can you just explain why you rejected the terms of 2.0 and how you reflect on your three years there?
JON RAHM: Well, I would say I can only reflect on those three years as a positive. It was a wonderful experience. Played a lot of good golf. Obviously individually and as a team, we did great.
And then, you said why I rejected the terms? As much as I liked the project and the idea on, let's say, LIV 1.0, I wasn't thrilled with the changes they were doing to 2.0 and I just wasn't willing to follow that path, right. It wasn't anything special, anything that stood out.
I just, yeah, I didn't like what they were going with 2.0.
Q. What was it in particular? The number of events? The fact that you might not be able to play your a into a tournament? What was it specifically?
JON RAHM: Too many unknown at the time and there are still quite a few. Ut seemed like it was going away from team golf and some of the things that made LIV, LIV. It just became more of a regular tour.
So yeah, it wasn't really ever much of a consideration to be honest.
Q. There was a lot of talk that some players left quite a bit of money on the table when they left LIV. Was there any sense of frustration on your end that you maybe didn't get what you initially agreed on when you moved three years ago?
JON RAHM: No.
Q. We might not see you on the PGA Tour until next August. How much are you looking forward to, first of all, playing on the DP World Tour for a year, and then looking to go play on the PGA Tour going into 2028?
JON RAHM: As of right now, I really don't know what 2027 is going to look like for me, right.
So I have yet to have a discussion with the PGA Tour to see if there's any path back for next year. So I don't know, as of right now. Until I get clarity on that, yeah, my plan would be to spend the year on the DP World Tour, and I'm looking forward to it. Currently looking at the schedule to see how I can organise it to play the events I want to play. You know, maybe have a chance to have a bit of a different year to what I have in the past.
But I haven't really gone too deeply into it just because there's still a question mark, right. Obviously Brooks was able to go back through certain circumstances. I don't know if the possibility of that would be open for me or not, but if I have to fulfill a one-year suspension, I think it's a pretty good position to be that a worst-case scenario I get to play on a wonderful tour for a whole year.
I will be supporting the Tour, for sure, and even if I get to go and play PGA Tour events, I'll still play European Tour events, as well. I'll play some events that I want to play like I've done in the past and maybe a few more.
Q. Just to clarify on that, if you were offered the exactly the same terms Brooks got, which of course you were eligible for originally, would you fulfill those organizations that Brooks did?
JON RAHM: Most likely, yeah. Why not? Yeah, but it's a big if. I seriously doubt I get offered the same deal that Brooks did. But yeah, if I got offered exactly the same penalties at him, I probably would do it, yes.
Q. This thing about a lot of players leaving money on the table, is that perhaps indicative of the fact that there is a growing belief that perhaps LIV can't survive in its current form or the form that they envisage taking it forward; the fact that so many of you have left, that it's going to struggle to survive as LIV 2.0 because it's not the probably that you signed up for and a lot of other guys signed up for.
JON RAHM: I don't know. I'm assuming there will be some people that would like to look forward to the changes and want to stay. There will be some new players that might have a chance to play. I truly don't know. It's been quite a while since I've been in a meeting or discussion about the intricacies about 2.0, so I couldn't really give you much of an on that.
Q. If you were here next year on the DP World Tour, would you start the events again in Dubai, at the Desert Classic?
JON RAHM: Yeah, because it will be Team Cup first, right. So it's Team Cup, Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar or Qatar, Bahrain?
Yeah, I don't think I will play four in a row, right. But it wouldn't be -- it would be pretty nice to play some of those three in the Middle East. Like once you're here, travelling to those places is fairly easy, right. So I most likely would play Dubai through Qatar, or whatever the order is, Bahrain, yeah.
Q. Congratulations on the new arrival. Obviously isn't the first time for you, but anyone who has been through that knows how difficult it can be getting back to work, and yourself, having such an international path. Is it difficult having a newborn and working, or is it easier this time now that you've done it three times before?
JON RAHM: I think each time is a different challenge, and what time of year, as well. This was the first time I was able to be at home the first week. The previous three, I basically -- when we got home from the hospital, I picked up my bag and left. So it's been nice to be able to help.
The one negative about this time of year was that for a few weeks, the golf courses in Arizona were going basically in overseed. So it was very nice to be at home and be able to help and support Kelley because obviously a lot that goes in with a newborn. So the other three need some supervision.
So I was very happy to be able to be home and be Dad for a little bit. It's been a long year and there's been a lot going on, so to live a little bit on what's more of reality, in a sense, doing what every other father out there does. I help them in the morning and take them to school and all the other fun things you get to do.
I haven't been able to practise a lot of golf. So after a long flight yesterday, let's use the word "rusty," is an understatement. But I would say there's a balance. I think the first time you become a parent is so new, it's very difficult. Then when you have another child, you think, oh, how easy it was so have only one or only two. Now we think how easy it was so have only three, right.
So it's a balancing act, and early on, it's very difficult because Mom has to be with the baby and it falls on to me to take up the other three.
But it's such a wonderful experience that when the time comes where I have to be practising, it falls a lot on Mom in our case, right. I have to give so much credit to Kelley where she's willing to take on so much just so I can practise and play golf.
So you need a strong partner to be able to take on that much, and I've been very lucky in that regard.
Q. You've obviously played so well in Dubai and won, and you played so well in Ireland and won. This is a desert course where the wind can get a little bit linksy at times. Even though you haven't played much, are you licking your chops a little bit?
JON RAHM: I think nowadays, we get very caught up on a golf course fitting a player, where I think as players, it's our duty to adjust to the golf course and the conditions.
I think the players that can do that the best are the ones that can win consistently. If you only play where you think you can play good, it's going to be a very short career, at least as far as I'm concerned.
So those versatile players that can adjust to the ever-changing conditions I think are the ones that have the ability to win on more golf courses, right. It's my job to hopefully adjust to how things are going.
But with how windy it got yesterday, it's always surprising to see how low the scores are, honestly. To shoot 20-under on a course that's firm and windy doesn't usually seem like that, but the greens are in such good shape, I understand how it can happen.
So as like a very rudimentary understanding of what I've seen so far, it seems like being able to be strong off the tee and hitting it far is going to be a massive, massive advantage. It always is. But with the greens getting firm and those smaller sections out there, if you can put it up there, obviously you're going to give yourself a lot more chances. So no matter the conditions, you still need to be really aggressive.
Q. You said to David that you haven't really been in any conversations about 2.0. I wonder when it was you decided it weren't going to be for you and you were sort of going to come back to these tours, and has it affected you in any way, all the talk the last few months about you and all the other guys?
JON RAHM: Affected me? What do you mean, sorry.
Q. Has it affected you maybe on the course or just all the headlines around it, and when did you decide that you were going to move on?
JON RAHM: Where you like to admit it or not, it's just noise in your head. So it's something that you have to deal with, right.
So, yeah, it definitely has been something that's taken attention and effort from what I want to do, and in that way it has been a distraction for sure.
Q. Can I ask you, what was your highlight of the year on the golf course so far?
JON RAHM: I haven't thought about it in a while. I think probably making that birdie putt on the 16th hole in Hong Kong. That gave me a five-shot lead with two holes to play; knowing that I had secured a win again after quite a bit of a long time, getting that feeling of knowing it was over, it was very, very nice. I have to put that up there. Especially being a golf course with so much history in which I wanted to win at and I liked it.
México comes close because I had a few chances to win and I never got it done. So being able to finish it off with a six-shot victory was very, very nice as well. I'll say one of those two, most likely that 16th hole in Hong Kong.
CLARE BODEL: Thank you, everyone. We wish you some more positive moments this week.
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